Courses in Cardiff

Read and discuss the world's most famous Christmas story! Highlights Join this book club and gain extra motivation to read in English 5 hours of live classes to help you develop fluent speaking in English Study this classic Dickens novel and increase your cultural knowledge Be corrected by an expert English teacher to remove errors and mistakes Practise and develop your English online in this 5 week advanced course featuring the classic Charles Dickens novel A Christmas Carol. Each week you read some chapters, discuss them in class and improve specific areas of vocabulary or grammar while also examining literary aspects of the novel. Personalised feedback improves your grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. The Book Club book A Christmas Carol is the most famous Christmas story of all. Dickens combines social realism with exaggeration, black comedy, and the supernatural to tackle important questions about the poor and disadvantaged in English society. Ebenezer Scrooge is mean and unpleasant but will he change when the ghost of his old partner, Jacob Marley, haunts him on Christmas Eve? Scrooge is visited by three spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Future, showing him his mistakes and leading to a change in his outlook. Charles Dickens tells this incredible story in fascinating language full of adjectives, as well as with real humanity. Geoff says: "I chose this book because it is so well known, through movies and the theatre, but have you read the original in English? The themes of love, kindness and generosity means it is a positive, uplifting story, and still relevant today. We read the original text, which is short."

Read and discuss the world's most famous Christmas story! Highlights Join this book club and gain extra motivation to read in English 5 hours of live classes to help you develop fluent speaking in English Study this classic Dickens novel and increase your cultural knowledge Be corrected by an expert English teacher to remove errors and mistakes Practise and develop your English online in this 5 week advanced course featuring the classic Charles Dickens novel A Christmas Carol. Each week you read some chapters, discuss them in class and improve specific areas of vocabulary or grammar while also examining literary aspects of the novel. Personalised feedback improves your grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. The Book Club book A Christmas Carol is the most famous Christmas story of all. Dickens combines social realism with exaggeration, black comedy, and the supernatural to tackle important questions about the poor and disadvantaged in English society. Ebenezer Scrooge is mean and unpleasant but will he change when the ghost of his old partner, Jacob Marley, haunts him on Christmas Eve? Scrooge is visited by three spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Future, showing him his mistakes and leading to a change in his outlook. Charles Dickens tells this incredible story in fascinating language full of adjectives, as well as with real humanity. Geoff says: "I chose this book because it is so well known, through movies and the theatre, but have you read the original in English? The themes of love, kindness and generosity means it is a positive, uplifting story, and still relevant today. We read the original text, which is short."

LOOKING FOR: ADULT FICTION Marilia Savvides founded The Plot Agency in 2024. She began her career in publishing at Peters Fraser and Dunlop, where she spent eight years, first as International Rights Agent, and later as Literary Agent, building her own list of authors. In 2019, she joined 42MP, where she worked as Literary Agent for four years, helping to launch and set up the Book Division. She is particularly interested in fiction that is beautifully written and cleverly constructed, but still accessible to a wide readership. She is often drawn to darker tales that weave together excellent characters and an impossible-to-put-down story, from immersive book club novels with a splash of suspense, crime and thrillers, accessible horror, and speculative, genre-bending or dystopian stories. She also adores smart, witty contemporary rom-com in the style of Emily Henry. In the thriller, crime and mystery space she is interested in most areas, except military thrillers and organised crime/ mafia / mob stories. Big hooks and clever set ups are a big bonus! She adores Karin Slaughter (especially her standalone novels) and Gillian Flynn. In the book club / reading group space, she’s particularly drawn to fiction in the vein of Jodi Picoult, Liane Moriarty and Celeste Ng, and absolutely fell in love with Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll, both for the incredible voice, and the exquisite use of structure and time. Complicated family dynamics, empathetic and smart approaches to controversial issues, stand out protagonists (like Elizabeth Zott in Lessons in Chemistry or Bernadette in Where D’You Go Bernadette), long buried secrets, complicity, the road to justice, and impossible decisions, are all themes she finds herself drawn to. In the horror space, she’s a sucker for amazing female-centric stories in the vein of Yellowjackets, and the kind of contemporary, accessible horror that Stephen King always nails. She wants to get lost in a world that feels within reach of ours. In the speculative and dystopian spaces, she’s interested in genius ideas that set up big questions or reflect the most broken (and sometimes hidden) parts of society. She loves Octavia Butler, Margaret Atwood, George Orwell, and also adored The Leftovers, Station Eleven, Wanderers, and The Power. The what-ifs of life and fiction fascinate her. In the grounded sci-fi space, she’d love to find a smart, immersive, and accessible story like The Martian. She doesn’t represent fantasy or romantasy. In regards to sci-fi, unless it’s very grounded and has crossover potential to a mainstream audience, it’s not for her. In the romance space, she’s particularly drawn to smart, complex and witty characters, where the chemistry is jumping off the page. She loves contemporary settings and all the tropes, though the voice and characters must come first to make the reading experience fully immersive. She wants to be cackling, and rooting for the characters with all her heart. She is very hands-on editorially, and loves working with her authors to shape their manuscripts, and brainstorm ideas. The best part of the job is discovering debut authors, and helping them find a home for their books. Marilia would like you to submit a covering letter, 1 - 2 page synopsis and the first 5,000 words of your manuscript in a single Word document.  (In addition to the paid sessions, Marilia is kindly offering one free session for low income/underrepresented writers. Please email agent121@iaminprint.co.uk to apply, outlining your case for this option which is offered at the discretion of I Am In Print).  By booking you understand you need to conduct an internet connection test with I Am In Print prior to the event. You also agree to email your material in one document to reach I Am In Print by the stated submission deadline and note that I Am In Print take no responsibility for the advice received during your agent meeting. The submission deadline is: Monday 11 November 2024

One to One English Book Club. Practise and develop your English online in this individual English book club course.

Build your confidence, fluency & accuracy with an individual ESL Book Club in English using a simplified, shortened and adapted novel. Highlights Join this individual ESL book club course to quickly improve your English confidence, fluency & accuracy 3 hours of live 1:1 English classes to help you develop your confidence in speaking in English Read a section of the book at home and then discuss what you have read Learn English 1:1 & be corrected by your private English teacher to remove errors and mistakes Build your confidence, skills and accuracy in this individual ESL book club in English course. Choose one of the books from the selection below. These books are shortened, simplified and adapted for learners of English as a foreign language. There are also language learning exercises and a short glossary of new words. Each week you read about 20-30 pages, write a summary of what you have read, and then discuss what you have read with your teacher Geoff. Personalised feedback improves your grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. The Book Club book Individual ESL Book Clubs are flexible and can be taken on the following simplified and shortened "graded reader" books. Contact Geoff to agree a day and time, then enrol on the course. Intermediate (B1) Austen, Jane - Emma (Oxford Bookworms) Austen, Jane - Persuasion (Oxford Bookworms) Austen, Jane - Sense and Sensibility (Penguin Readers) Brontë, Emily - Wuthering Heights (Penguin Readers) Christie, Agatha - Death on the Nile (Collins English Readers) Christie, Agatha - The Body in the Library (Collins English Readers) Conan Doyle, Arthur - Sherlock Holmes: The Hound of the Baskervilles (Oxford Bookworms) Dickens, Charles - A Tale of Two Cities (Penguin Readers) Dickens, Charles - David Copperfield (Penguin Readers) Dickens, Charles - Great Expectations (Penguin Readers) Dickens, Charles - Oliver Twist (Penguin Readers) Hardy, Thomas - Far From The Madding Crowd (Penguin Readers) Hardy, Thomas - Tess of the D'Urbervilles (Penguin Readers) Hawkins, Paula - The Girl On The Train (Penguin Readers) Highsmith, Patricia - The Talented Mr Ripley (Penguin Readers) Joyce, James - Dubliners (Penguin Readers) Joyce, Rachel - The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (Penguin Readers) Le Carré, John - The Spy Who Came In From The Cold (Penguin Readers) Shelley, Mary - Frankenstein (Penguin Readers) Tóibín, Colm - Brooklyn (Penguin Readers) Upper-Intermediate (B2) Austen, Jane - Sense and Sensibility (Oxford Bookworms) Asimov, Isaac - I, Robot (Oxford Bookworms) Brontë, Emily - Wuthering Heights (Oxford Bookworms) Christie, Agatha - The ABC Murders (Collins English Readers) Christie, Agatha - Evil Under The Sun (Collins English Readers) Collins, Wilkie - The Woman in White (Penguin Readers) Dick, Philip K - Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (Oxford Bookworms) Evaristo, Bernardine - Girl, Woman, Other (Penguin Readers) Fitzgerald, F. Scott - The Great Gatsby (Oxford Bookworms) Gyasi, Yaa - Homegoing (Penguin Readers) Hardy, Thomas - Far From The Madding Crowd (Oxford Bookworms) Kerouac, Jack - On the Road (Pearson English Readers) Mansfield, Katherine - The Garden Party (Oxford Bookworms) McEwan, Ian - The Children Act (Penguin Readers) Melville, Herman - Moby Dick (Penguin Readers) Orwell, George - 1984 (Penguin Readers) Puso, Mario - The Godfather (Penguin Readers) Smith, Zadie - White Teeth (Penguin Readers) Stevenson, RL - The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (Pearson English Readers) Wharton, Edith - The Age of Innocence (Oxford Bookworms) Woolf, Virginia - Mrs Dalloway (Penguin Readers) Upper-Intermediate + (B2+) Austen, Jane - Pride and Prejudice (Oxford Bookworms) Brontë, Charlotte - Jane Eyre (Oxford Bookworms) Conan Doyle, Arthur - Sherlock Holmes: The Sign of Four (Oxford Bookworms) Flaubert, Gustave - Madame Bovary (Pearson English Readers) Gaskell, Elizabeth - North and South (Pearson English Readers) Garland, Alex- The Beach (Pearson English Readers) Hardy, Thomas - Tess of the D'Urbervilles (Oxford Bookworms) Tan, Amy - The Joy Luck Club (Oxford Bookworms) Geoff says: "This is a great way to start reading more in English, to build your confidence, to focus on your needs and language, and to make fast progress."

LOOKING FOR: ADULT FICTION, YA THRILLER Saskia Leach is an Agent's Assistant at Kate Nash Literary Agency and is currently training to become a Junior Agent. She graduated from Royal Holloway, University of London in 2020 with a BA degree in English and History, before joining Kate Nash Literary Agency in 2021. Saskia loves commercial fiction that features complex and dynamic characters and is fascinated by stories containing document inserts or written from multiple perspectives. Saskia enjoys commercial and book club fiction and is particularly looking for cosy crime from any period (whether contemporary like Janice Hallett and Richard Osman, traditional Golden Age murder mystery or historical), WW2 historical fiction in the vein of Heather Morris or Markus Zusak, twisty psychological thriller with a unique hook, LGBTQ+ romance, underrepresented voices and perspectives, YA thriller or romance, and locked-room thriller. Saskia would like you to submit a covering letter, 1 page synopsis and the first 2,500 words of your manuscript in a single word document. (In addition to the paid sessions, Saskia is kindly offering one free session for low income/under-represented writers. Please email agent121@iaminprint.co.uk to apply, outlining your case for this option which is offered at the discretion of I Am In Print).  By booking you understand you need to conduct an internet connection test with I Am In Print prior to the event. You also agree to email your material to reach I Am In Print by the stated submission deadline and note that I Am In Print take no responsibility for the advice given in your Agent121. The submission deadline is: Friday 22 November 2024

LOOKING FOR: MG, ADULT FICTION Jo Williamson has been in publishing for over 25 years. Having worked in Children’s books PR for Dorling Kindersley, HarperCollins and Orion, she started as an agent with Antony Harwood in 2008. She feels very privileged being with authors at the very start of their publishing journey and enjoys close working relationships with all her clients. From editorial help, general advice on the publishing world, guiding careers long-term and general cheerleading, she feels she has the perfect job. Although nothing is off limits and she loves being surprised by submissions, In middle grade children's fiction, Jo is particularly looking for books with heart, epic adventures with voice-led characters, and younger funny fiction with series potential.  In adult fiction, page-turning Commercial Women’s and Book Club fiction are right up Jo's street, including psychological suspense, thriller, cosy crime and books that don’t quite fit the mould. Above all, she wants stories that linger long after the final page has been read. Jo is not the right fit for police procedurals. Jo would like you to submit a covering letter, 1 page synopsis and the first 5,000 words of your manuscript in a single word document. (In addition to the paid sessions, Jo is kindly offering one free session for low income/underrepresented writers. Please email agent121@iaminprint.co.uk to apply, outlining your case for this option which is offered at the discretion of I Am In Print).  By booking you understand you need to conduct an internet connection test with I Am In Print prior to the event. You also agree to email your material in one document to reach I Am In Print by the stated submission deadline and note that I Am In Print take no responsibility for the advice received during your agent meeting. The submission deadline is: Monday 2 December 2024

LOOKING FOR: ADULT FICTION, NON-FICTION Amanda Preston has been a literary agent for over 20 years and co-founded LBA in 2005. She won the RNA Literary Agent of the Year award in 2018.  She represents commercial and reading group fiction, as well as a range of narrative non-fiction and memoir. She loves working with authors, championing them every step of the way, and works with them and their publishing teams to build them into brand names and award winning and bestselling authors in the UK and internationally. Whether commercial or reading-group, she loves innovative and well-written stories that hook her in from the start and whose voice stays with her. She is looking for novels that demand to be talked about and shared, whatever their genre, and that she is still thinking about days after finishing.  She is on the hunt for a high-concept thriller which is character and plot driven, but also has a discussable issue at its heart i.e Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey and Girl A by Abigail Dean. She love thrillers where the location is as integral to the plot as the crime i.e The Dry by Jane Harper and The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse, and would love a good locked-room thriller but is only looking for fresh and unique ideas in this area.  She is also on the hunt for a glorious book club love story that is doing something a bit different and special i.e Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus or anything by Taylor Jenkins Reid or Liane Moriarty! Or smart, contemporary, observant romcoms with a very strong emphasis on diverse / own voices.  Finally, she would love a historical that vividly brings that period to life as well as having a stunning plot i.e, The Familiars by Stacey Halls and The Doll Factory by Elizabeth MacNeal. Amanda would like you to submit a covering letter, 1 page synopsis and the opening three chapters (max 5,000 words). (In addition to the paid sessions, Amanda is kindly offering one free session for low income/under-represented writers. Please email agent121@iaminprint.co.uk to apply, outlining your case for this option which is offered at the discretion of I Am In Print).  By booking you understand you need to conduct an internet connection test with I Am In Print prior to the event. You also agree to email your material in one document to reach I Am In Print by the stated submission deadline and note that I Am In Print take no responsibility for the advice received during your agent meeting. The submission deadline is: Friday 29 November 2024

LOOKING FOR: ADULT FICTION Jade Kavanagh is a Literary Agent at Darley Anderson Literary Agency. She has a degree in English Literature from the University of Westminster then went on to achieve her Masters in Modern and Contemporary Fictions. Alongside assisting Camilla Bolton on her list of clients Jade is building her own list of suspense, thriller and horror with distinct voices and setting. Across these genres Jade looks for powerful female narratives and dynamic characterisation. She wants female characters like Shiv Roy (Succession), Emily Gilmore (Gilmore Girls), Annalise Keating (How to Get Away with Murder), Buffy Summers (Buffy), Ellen Ripley (Alien), Dana Scully (The X Files), Detective Kima Greggs (The Wire). Jade would love something with a big book club hook that readers devour in one sitting. Setting and atmosphere are of huge appeal. She wants stories with a vivid sense of place and to be immersed in the world of the characters. Jade wants detail down to what shade of lipstick or colour of the lamp on their bedside table and the nature and landscape around them. She loves luxury settings she can get excited about reading and descriptions to lose herself in. Jade also loves dark twists on glamorous concepts and settings. Think The Devil Wears Prada meets Killing Eve, or Real Housewives or Succession meets How to Kill My Family or something akin to White Lotus.  Across the spectrum of horror and speculative fiction, Jade is looking for haunting stories filled with slow build darkness and characters with heart. Think 28 Days Later and The Last of Us. She really wants a dark witchy story… or on the cozier side a fresh take on something like Practical Magic or Charmed. Jade wants heroes to root for, and villains that terrify and enrage her in equal measure. One of Jade's favourite TV shows is Orphan Black; she'd love to see a book series like this. As a proud member of the Twilight generation, (Team Edward forever!) she’d also love to read a modern vampire novel. Show her American Psycho meets Dracula. Give her 2023 Carlisle Cullen in a thriller or a new take on Buffy. Whilst not actively looking for sci-fi novels, Jade would love to see A Scully and Mulder for the 2020s!  Notably, Jade looks for voices from all walks of life. She is incredibly passionate about bringing working-class voices into the commercial fiction space. She would love to hear from new exciting talent, telling stories about everyday people with relatable voices, people she grew up with, people she can imagine. Jade would like you to submit a covering letter, 1 -2 page synopsis and the first 5,000 words of your completed manuscript in a single word document. (In addition to the paid sessions, Jade is kindly offering one free session for low income/under-represented writers. Please email agent121@iaminprint.co.uk to apply, outlining your case for this option which is offered at the discretion of I Am In Print).  By booking you understand you need to conduct an internet connection test with I Am In Print prior to the event. You also agree to email your material in one document to reach I Am In Print by the stated submission deadline and note that I Am In Print take no responsibility for the advice received during your agent meeting. The submission deadline is: Tuesday 10 December 2024

LOOKING FOR: ADULT FICTION Louise Buckley has worked in publishing for well over a decade. She was inspired to enter the publishing industry after completing an MA in Creative Writing and then spent a hugely enjoyable year working as a bookseller for Waterstones, wishing that she could have a hand in publishing books. After a year working at Dorling Kindersley, she then spent almost five years working in the commercial fiction division at Pan Macmillan, where she published a mix of commercial bestsellers and award-winning authors. Most recently, she was an Associate Literary Agent at Zeno Agency Ltd. As an agent she represented a roster of commercial and literary fiction, including Anne Griffin’s When All is Said, which spent five weeks at number one in Ireland and sold into 17 territories. She is delighted to be working with Hannah at Hannah Sheppard Literary Agency. Louise is looking for:- Literary and upmarket fiction that focusses on the underdog, the repressed, the suppressed. Louise is especially interested in novels that represent working-class people or children going through difficult circumstances (think Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart, My Name is Leon by Kit de Waal or Boys Don’t Cry by FÍona Scarlett). Irish literary and book club fiction. Think Claire Keegan, Louise Kennedy or Anne Griffin. In commercial fiction she loves novels set during the Second World War, such as The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah, The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christi Lefteri or The Midwife of Auschwitz by Anna Stuart. Louise recently read and loved The Last List of Mabel Beaumont by Laura Pearson and would love to see anything in the same ‘older person going on a journey’ category, a more recent The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. Louise had a lot of fun publishing a ‘pet fiction’ novel as an editor (Molly and the Cat Café) and would love to find an author who can write an Alfie the Doorstep Cat/Dog. She has a soft spot for novels featuring time-travel or parallel universes, a ‘what if’ that plays around with conventions. At the literary end this would be books like Life After Life by Kate Atkinson, The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes or This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone. At the more commercial end Louise loved Wrong Place, Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister, Dark Matter by Blake Crouch and Oona Out of Order by Martina Montimore. She also enjoys novels set in the real world but featuring a hefty dose of magic or the supernatural. They can be commercial or literary, present-day or historical. Think Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch, Threadneedle by Cari Thomas, A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness or The Gifts by Liz Hyder. And also cosy fantasy in the vein of Legends and Lattes or The House in the Cerulean Sea. Cosy or humorous crime. Recently, Louise absolutely loved Over My Dead Body by Maz Evans. When she was an editor Louise published the hit Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll and would love to represent incisive, intelligent suspense written by authors such as Jessica Knoll and Gillian Flynn, or something a little more subversive and blackly comic like My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite. More generally, Louise would also love to see novels with a disabled protagonist or someone (like myself) who is living with an invisible disability. As an ex-primary school teacher, she also warmly welcomes submissions from teachers, especially if the submission falls into one of the other categories she has listed. Following-on from this, she enjoys reading stories that follow a ‘beating the system’ narrative. Louise is NOT looking for: -romance -romantasy -epic, traditional fantasy -space opera -straightforward women’s fiction -children’s fiction of any kind -non-fiction Louise would like you to submit a covering letter, 1 page synopsis and the first three chapters or 5,000 words of your manuscript in a single word document. (In addition to the paid sessions, Louise is kindly offering one free session for low income/under-represented writers. Please email agent121@iaminprint.co.uk to apply, outlining your case for this option which is offered at the discretion of I Am In Print).  By booking you understand you need to conduct an internet connection test with I Am In Print prior to the event. You also agree to email your material in one document to reach I Am In Print by the stated submission deadline and note that I Am In Print take no responsibility for the advice received during your agent meeting. The submission deadline is: Friday 6 December 2024